


The Elite and Talking Monkeys

by olimakiella



Series: Tea Arc [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Caffeine Addiction, Coffee, Established Relationship, M/M, Relationship Advice, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-05
Updated: 2012-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-13 15:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olimakiella/pseuds/olimakiella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While putting away his groceries, Harry talks with Hermione and finally explains why he's so afraid to ask Draco to move in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Elite and Talking Monkeys

**Author's Note:**

> This piece of fiction is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made, no copyright or trademark infringement, or offense is intended.

Harry led Hermione in through his entry way and into the kitchen at the end of the hall. Grocery shopping was always better with company, especially Hermione. She was always so logical about things to buy. Besides, Hermione stated she wanted to get in all the walking she could now, because if Molly was right, she wouldn’t be walking properly until she had the baby in another four months. With the bags on the island in the middle, Harry began routing around for the frozen goods to shove them in the freezer first. Hermione dug through another set and then frowned. “You buy more than one kind of tea?” she asked him as she held up the two boxes. She hadn’t seen them in the store.   
  
"I do enjoy variety, you know."  
  
Her face looked quizzical and amused. "You hate Earl Grey," she said smiling. She did too. The only reason it was in her home was because Ron loved it and she liked to spoil him sometimes.  
  
Harry shrugged and closed the freezer door. “Yeah, well... I have my kind and then the kind Draco likes for when he comes over.”  
  
She stared. “He has a special preference... you know what, don’t bother. Of  _course_  he has a preference of tea.” She put them in the cupboard over the kettle.  
  
Harry laughed. “Yeah, it fits his personality.” He looked up to see Hermione’s inquisitive look. “He’s more of an Earl Grey kind of man, anyway.” He pointed to the regal man he could see on the box with his cane in hand, as he smoked his pipe and stared down his nose at them. He rolled his eyes. “Some things you just can’t get out of a pureblood. Snooty, the lot of them.” He grinned.  
  
Hermione almost made him take it back, but she too had her moments when Ron looked at her as if she just wouldn’t ‘get it’. Sometimes she caught him rolling his eyes at her when she asked him a question, especially when she refused to take the explanation of ' _by magic_ ' as a proper answer. She wanted to dig out his eyes with a spatula. “And what do you prefer?”  
  
Harry grinned. “I’m more a PG Tips guy. You know.” He shrugged.  
  
Hermione smiled. “So what you’re saying is, he’s more of the social elite and you’re more a talking monkey?”  
  
Harry paused in putting away his groceries and looked up at her. “You know, any Slytherin would say that pretty much summed up our relationship.”  
  
She rested her chin on her propped up hand. “There’s a relationship then?” She hadn’t been able to get  _anything_  out of him about this.  
  
He looked down to the two tins in his hands. He watched his thumb picking at the label. “Well... I like to think so.”  
  
Hmm, delicate subject, then. “What about him?” she said softly.  
  
He huffed at his best friend. “I don’t want to over analyse anything, Hermione. I’m not a girl.”  
  
“Girls don’t over-analyse.” Harry really wished he could cock an eyebrow like Draco could. He settled with raising them both. “… much.” Harry scoffed and turned to the cupboard to put away his tins. She grabbed up the lettuce and made her way to the fridge. “I just... I don’t want to see you hurt." She pulled out the crisper drawer and stuffed it in. "He hasn’t even attempted to make a step toward a more serious relationship-”  
  
“Hermione-”  
  
“ _Harry_.” she slammed the fridge door shut. “Seriously now. What’s going on?” She knew the man spent nights over, that much was obvious. He'd made himself at home, she could tell that much too, especially since the Christmas miracle they'd witnessed two days ago.  
  
"He has a drawer. He asked for it, himself." Harry was looking for a way out of this conversation, she could tell. When he realised there was no way to run - it being his house and all - he collapsed into the bar stool at his island. “I want to ask him to move in.”  
  
 _I knew it._  There was no way Harry was happy with Draco owning a pullout piece of real estate in his bedroom. Hermione managed to get herself onto a stool of her own, managing to keep her thoughts to herself. “Okay...” she waited.  
  
Harry looked up from his fingers where he figeted. He gestured with them to say  _‘Okay, what?’_  “That’s it. That’s as far as I’ve got.”  
  
Hermione covered her forehead with her hand to say ‘ _Men_ ’. “Well, why haven’t you asked him?”  
  
Harry scoffed. “Looked around. He lives in a Manor, Hermione. What is this compared to something twenty -- a _hundred_ \-- times its size?” He went quiet again. "I don't have anything to offer him." He shook his head and pulled out a pack of biscuits. "I mean, I have my inheritance but... my parents were rich, his were  _wealthy_. There's a big glaring difference." He tore into the wrapping and pulled out a chocolate digestive. "Just look at how we live, how we dress,  _act_." He bit into his biscuit and offered Hermione. She took one and bit into it thoughtfully. "I don't want to live like this anymore, but I know I'm not going to be enough." He sighed and ate the rest of his biscuit.  
  
“Harry,” she began. “I knew there was something wrong with you as we were walking around Tesco. If I can see it while we’re shopping, I think Malfoy will be able to see it when you’re alone too. If he hasn’t already.” Harry looked at her in dismay.  
  
“You think-”  
  
“I think,” she interrupted, “that if you don’t do something you’re going to make yourself even more miserable than you already are.”  
  
He looked pained and shut his eyes. "I'm going to have to talk to him aren't I?"  
  
She nodded. "'Fraid so."  
  
He let his head fall onto the counter top. "I should have gone shopping with Ron." 


End file.
